Stewart wins at the Glen
Despite suffering agonising stomach and leg cramps, Tony Stewart held off road racing specialist Ron Fellows to Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Watkins Glen by 1.5secs
Stewart took the lead from Casey Mears with 25 laps to go and held off a charging Fellows, to win for the second time this year - the 19th of his career and his third on a road course.
Stewart began suffering early in the race, so much so that the team summoned Boris Said, who had failed to qualify but had stayed on the lot, to its pit on Lap 30. Ten laps later, Stewart took the lead from Robby Gordon, and with assistance from a physician in the pits, held on to his guts the rest of the way.
After the race, Stewart was ill to the point where he left the car immediately and went to his coach for further assistance.
Mears, who gambled by skipping a pit stop, has as much as an 11sec lead when caution came out for Brendan Gaughan's trip into the gravel on Lap 71. That gathered the field, with Mears leading on the restart, followed by Stewart, Dave Blaney, and Fellows, driving a DEI car for this race only.
Stewart needed a lap to set up Mears after the restart, then made the pass entering the backstretch chicane on Lap 76. Fellows, who started last, shortly afterward passed Blaney for third, then overtook Mears for second on Lap 78.
Fellows was not able to close the gap significantly, gaining ground on some laps and losing it on others. Stewart won by 1.5sec, having led 46 of the 90 laps. Mark Martin finished third, ahead of Mears and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The points leaders had major trouble. Leader Jimmie Johnson fell out with a blown engine, preceded by transmission problems, on Lap 25. Jeff Gordon, second in points, felt his transmission break with 10 laps to go while running fourth, and fell back through the ranks.
Jeremy Mayfield finished seventh and gained the all-important 10th spot in the points race, displacing Ryan Newman, but five drivers remain within 100 points of the transfer spot.
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